Today, most data in field force industries (e.g., field sales, field services, inspection and reporting, etc.) is distributed and captured on paper-based forms. The data entered on paper-based forms are typically returned to the business office to be manually entered electronically and integrated with a back office system. Furthermore, an enterprise business process might require the captured data to be reviewed by other members of the organization (e.g., authorization, up sell opportunity, billing, etc.) before, during, or after the field has interacted with the data. The process of distributing, updating, capturing, and returning form data and adapting it to a unique business process applies to a large number of mobile workers performing a variety of tasks such as, but not limited to, data collection solutions such as inspections (e.g., property, health, etc.), field sales solutions reporting (e.g., lead capture, timesheet, expense reports, etc.), and field service solutions such as work order dispatches (e.g., HVAC, insurance claims, etc.).
Typically, in more complex forms-based business processes, work requests and form data are initially dispatched to field force workers using a voice channel (e.g., cell phone) or pre-printed paper forms (e.g., clipboard) that is then manually filled out or updated by the mobile worker (e.g., technician). A completed work request might also require one or many subsequent requests (e.g., required parts, required authorization, up-sell opportunities, etc.) that are typically done through a call over a cellular phone, or return trip to the office, or may cause the displacement of the mobile worker. In addition, field inspectors may also capture data in the field using a series of paper forms and binders to complete their inspection tasks, resulting in a slow and inefficient process.
Businesses incur high wireless voice and vehicle fleet costs due to the above-described processes used in dispatching field workers, capturing or updating form data, and completing work orders or inspection forms in the field. Additionally, there are significant costs and inefficiencies with slow, manual processes for the exchange of data using paper-based forms, from the cost of the paper based forms, to duplicate data entry, to errors made in data capture on paper, to waiting for the person with the data to update another person or system, etc.
In order to reduce the use of paper, electronic forms and mobile applications are used in conjunction with mobile devices such as portable computers. More recently, mobile devices are increasingly used for data collection as more and more mobile devices become available (laptops, cell phones, PDAs, tablet PCs, Ultra Mobile PCs, etc.) and as more and more content is available in electronic form (documents, email, pictures, commerce, videos, data etc.), and as access to data services and applications via the devices and content becomes more and more ubiquitous (internet, wireless, etc.). The mobile devices are increasingly used by organizations that have the need to collect data from remote locations which prevent the use of traditional fixed computers.
Mobile device applications are increasingly supporting multiple means of manually and automatically capturing or updating information through different interfaces and methods interacting with data services and applications. The need for securely managing this information and providing a flexible, secure framework for working with online and offline content on a mobile device is critical to improve the productivity and effectiveness of mobile field workers and mobile application solutions. Currently, no workable solution provides a means for a mobile user to make best use of any captured information on a mobile device to be shared by other mobile applications and mobile services, whether being on-line (i.e., a server or web connection) or off-line (on the mobile device itself). At best, the data applications or services may be rewritten to provide data compatibility, but such a process is expensive, time consuming and often unfeasible. Captured data on one mobile device data application or service may be in an incompatible format which prevents integration to data applications and services on the mobile device as well as legacy back-office systems, databases, applications or other hosted data applications and services. Thus, organizations with a mobile workforce who rely on business processes that rely on the timely and secure exchange of data while providing easy to use, flexible, accurate and fast data capture in the field are hampered by the incompatibility of the data format used by different mobile applications.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a system and method for rapid sharing of data and rapid configuration of required data across different mobile data applications or services. There is a further need to facilitate orchestration of data between mobile data applications or services without reprogramming the applications or services. There is a further need for a mobile data collection system to enable clients to capture or update data from mobile data applications services and share the data with other different mobile data applications and services. There is also a need for a mobile data system which allows data to be communicated and shared with other remote data applications and services.